Hat-body machinery



ALVA B. TAYLOR, OF NEVARK, NEXV JERSEY.

HAT-BODY MACHINERY.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 21,382',` dated August 31, 185g'.

To all 'Lo/0m t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALvA B. "TAYLOR, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Manufacturing Hat-Bodies and other Articles;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a. full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l represents a. Fosket machine with my improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a. horizontal section of the same following the line m of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same following the line w of Fig. 2.

My invention ap'pertains to that class of machines by which hat bodies or other art-icles are formed by causing picked iibers of fur or other material to deposit in the form of a bat upon a perforated exhausted former of a size and form adapted to thatof the hat to be made; and my invention has reference to the picker, or apparatus by means of which the fibrous material is picked apart and its fibers disseminated in air.

The picker of my improved machine, as represented in the accompanying drawing, is composed of two disks A and B, one of which (A) is stationary, while the other revolves upon its axis. These disks face each other and their adjacent faces are studded with teeth in concentric rings of different diameters, so that the teeth of one disk enter between those of the other. The stationary disk (A) is made fast to the frame C of the machine, and has an opening e at its center, through which the fibrous material to be picked is fed in. The other disk B is secured to a sha-ft D to which a rapid rotary motion is imparted. rI'he two disks are surrounded by a casing E, having a delivery spout or trunk F at its side, to, convey the picked fiber to the forming chamber G.

The formingchamber, G, is mounted upon al table H which forms the upper side of a chamber I from which the air is exhausted by an exhausting fan J. This fan is in this instance of the screw variety, and it is mounted upon a shaft g to which a rapid rotary motion is imparted. The table H is perforated at its center to receive and sustain a rim Z upon which the hat body former K is mounted, and the periphery of the rim is grooved to receive a` belt by means of which a slow rotary movement is imparted 1 to the rim. The rim supports the hatbody former K, which may be formed of perfor-ated metal, wire gauze, or any other suitable pervious material; it is of the shape and size of the hat bodies to be made, and it is set upon the rim in such manner that it can be readily removed therefrom and re applied thereto.

The forming" chamber, G, is in this instance of rectangular form; it has a series of narrow openings around its base to admit air, and it has a circular opening f in .its top for the same purpose. The openings at the base are tted with adjustable shut-- ters it, by means of which the quantity of air admitted is controlled; the opening at the top may also be fitted with similar shutters for the same purpose.

Motion is imparted to the different parts of the machine by means of a driving shaft o. to which power may be applied by means of a driving belt, and from which power is transmitted by means of belts and pulleys. The rim on which the perforated former is mounted is driven by the belt m encircling it and a pulley on the driving shaft. The fan is driven by means of a belt n proceeding from a pulley Z on a countershaft z', to which motion is imparted from the driving shaft a bymeans of a suitable belt and belt pulleys. The picker is driven from the same countershaft by means of a suitable belt p and belt pulleys t and s.

When the machine is in operation a quantity .of fibrous material sufficient to form a hat body is fed into the eye of the picker, whose revolving teeth rapidly disintegrate it and cast the disintegrated fibers toward the rim of the picker case, whence they issue through the trunk into the forming chamber, into which they are drawn by the rush of air through the perforations of the hat body former to supply the exhausting fan. As theffibers enterthe forming chamber they are acted upon by the currents of air that enter the openings at the base thereof, by whose action the fibers are driven against and pressed upon the revolving former. As the currents of air entering the opening at the base of the forming chamber set upward toward the top of the former, a portion of the libers are wafted upward and deposited thereupon. The relative quantities which are deposited toward the. base and the tip of the former are regulated by the greater or less extent of the openings in the forming chamber, which may be regulated by means of the adjustable shutters. The opening at the top of the forming chamber, by admitting air at that part, enables a larger amount of air to be admitted at the base of the former than could otherwise be done Without injury to the bat being formed; and thus permits the fur fibers to be supplied more rapidly, and the hat body to be formed with corresponding rapidity. When the requisite quantity of fibers have been collected upon the former, the bat formed is covered With a suitable cover Which is inserted through a door 7c, made in one of the sides of the forming,- chamber G, and the former, bat, and cover are removed from the rim, after Which the bat may be hardened in any suitable manner. As several methods of hardening hat bodies are Well known, and as my present invention does not extend to hardening` processes, I do not deem it necessary to describe any particular method of effecting this operation.

Having thus described my improvement and a machine in Which it is embodied, it may be proper to state that I do not limit it to the precise arrangement and construction Which I have herein described, but intend to vary these as circumstances may render expedient. Thus for example, both disks of the picker may be caused to revolve either in the same directions With different speeds, or in opposite directions; and the picker may be combined With a perforated former not inclosed in a forming chamber, or with other devices than those herein described.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. The combination of a disk picker op erating substantially as herein set forth with a perforated former. v'

2. 4I also claim a disk picker composed of tWo disks Whose faces are studded with teeth operating substantially as herein set forth to pick fibrous material fed into the eye of the picker and to discharge the picked fibers at the rim thereof.

A. B. TAYLOR.

Witnesses:

A. S. MORRIS, GEO. O. DUNGKLEE. 

